Correlation of Damping and Fatigue Properties of an AISI 403 Stainless Steel

The changes in the damping properties of AISI 403 with cyclical torsional fatigue stressing have been determined in order to define the cyclical stress sensitivity limit (CSSL) of the material. Comparison of the data with observations of changes in surface features and the torsional and push-pull fatigue lives shows that the CSSL is a good indication of the minimum stress which can cause permanent fatigue damage in this material. The type of test used to determine the CSSL is rapid in that less than one day's testing on one specimen is required to define it, whereas the usual fatigue limit requires testing times of several weeks and a number of different specimens. Application of the Granato-Lucke theory of dislocation damping explains many of the observations of damping and modulus changes encountered.